Vacation Checklist

l Five percent of U.S. households experience an attempted or completed burglary each year — that’s one out of every 20.

l 13,000 burglaries occur in the U.S. every day, about one every 15 seconds.

l Two-thirds of all burglaries in the U.S. are perpetrated at residential households.

l The average burglary takes seven minutes to complete.

l Eighty percent of illegal entries are made through a locked door.

l The average loss per burglary is $1,400.

l The perpetrator of burglaries usually lives within one to two miles of his victim.

Does this mean you need to invest in a complicated alarm system? Hire a monitoring company? Stay home from vacation? The smart homeowner knows the dangers and how to minimize opportunities for victimization. Make yourself a checklist, follow the advice below, and enjoy your trip. (Even if you won’t be away, it’s a good idea to look over the advice anyway.)

A monitored alarm system can give you a lot of peace of mind, but it’s by no means a cure-all for burglary-prevention. While simply having an alarm-company sign or sticker in a window is a crime deterrent, the fact remains that, should a burglar choose to break in, chances are that he’ll be gone before the police respond to the alarm. Boost your home’s protection by following these suggestions:

l If you have hollow-core doors, knob-only locks, or windows in your doors, replace them with solid-core, windowless doors. Install deadbolt locks.

l Replace loose screens on windows, repair broken latches and cracked windowpanes. Be sure to close and lock all windows.

l Trim back shrubbery around windows and doors so that none of your entrances or windows are obscured from the street. Heavy, concealing foliage is an invitation to a burglar.

l Never, under any circumstances, “hide” a key outside of your house. The burglar has already thought of every clever hiding place you come up with. And forget about the hollow fake rocks sold in hardware stores — they don’t even fool children.

l If you’re traveling in the summer, turn off the water heater, whether it’s gas or electric. Turn your air conditioning on to about 82 degrees to control humidity. If it’s a winter getaway, leave the pilot light on your gas water heater or turn your electric water heater to the coolest setting. Turn your thermostat down to about 50 degrees.

l Clean out the refrigerator and cupboards of perishable foods so you don't come home to an out-of-control science experiment. Turn off your ice maker — these have been known to continue producing to the point of pushing open the freezer door.

l Unplug all televisions, stereo equipment, computers, and other electronics in case of a lightning surge.

l Have a trusted neighbor or friend hold a spare key to your house and check on the house periodically — if a water pipe does break or you did leave the iron on, your friends can prevent complete destruction of your home.

l Pay a neighborhood kid (one you know is responsible) to pick up your mail and newspapers. If you can’t find one, put a stop on at the post office and call the newspaper delivery service.

l Ask a neighbor to drag one of her garbage cans in front of your house on trash day and to occasionally park in your driveway.

l If you have an automatic sprinkler system, be sure to leave it running. Have someone come mow your lawn or rake your leaves while you’re gone.

l Put timers on some of the lamps near your windows so that they will light at dusk and shut off at the time you'd normally retire.

l Install motion-activated lights in the front and back of the house.

l Turn the ringer down low on all phones — that way a burglar won’t be alerted by an endlessly ringing phone.